Name : Titin Evania Manalu

ID Number : 4183131054

Class : Chemistry Education Study Program 2018

Courses : Environmental Chemistry

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS

MEETING 11

1. What phenomenon is responsible for the temperature maximum at the boundary of the
stratosphere and the mesosphere?

Answer:

Due to the presence of O3 and the heating effect caused by the absorption of UV Followed by
radiation and relaxation. So, there are the absorption of energy from ultraviolet radiation,
primarily O2 and O3, warms this region.

Temperatures as high as 0°C (32 °F) are observed near the top of the stratosphere. The
observed increase of temperature with height in the stratosphere results in strong
thermodynamic stability with little turbulence and vertical mixing. The pattern of temperature
increase with height in the stratosphere is the result of solar heating as ultraviolet radiation in
the wavelength range of 0.200 to 0.242 micrometre dissociates diatomic oxygen (O 2). The
resultant attachment of single oxygen atoms to O2 produces ozone (O3). Natural stratospheric
ozone is produced mainly in the tropical and middle latitudes. Regions of nearly complete
ozone depletion, which have occurred in the Antarctic during the spring, are associated with
nacreous clouds, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and other pollutants from human activities.
These regions are more commonly known as ozone holes.

2. What function does a third body serve in an atmospheric chemical reaction?

Answer:

A third body is needed for any reaction where two reactants combine to form a single
product. Third bodies absorb excess energy when the molecules form, stabilizing the newly
formed molecule. Or It absorbs excess energy from a newly formed or excited molecule or
radical preventing it from dissociating.

A three-body reaction involves reaction of two species A and B to yield one single
product species AB. This reaction requires a third body M to stabilize the excited
product AB* by collision:
 
 
 
 
 
 
The third body M is any inert molecule (in the atmosphere, generally N2 and O2) that
can remove the excess energy from AB* and eventually dissipate it as heat. Common
practice is to write the overall reaction as
 
 
 
to emphasize the need for a third body.

3. Why does the lower boundary of the ionosphere lift at night?

Answer:

During the day the ionosphere is made through photoionization and night it lifts. The reason
for the lifting is because the particles are no longer being made and particles at lower
elevation react more rapidly because of their shorter mean free path. The ionosphere is
constantly changing. Because it's formed when particles are ionized by the Sun's energy, the
ionosphere changes from Earth's day side to night side. When night falls, the ionosphere thins
out as previously ionized particles relax and recombine back into neutral particles.

In darkness, positive ions created by UV light recombine with free electrons in the lower
regions of the ionosphere, the process is rapid at high molecular concentrations, causing the
lower limit of the ionosphere to lift at night.
4. Considering the total number of electrons in NO 2, why might it be expected that the
reaction of a free radical with NO2 is a chain-terminating reaction?

Answer:

Chain termination is any chemical reaction that ceases the formation of reactive intermediates
in a chain propagation step in the course of a polymerization, effectively bringing it to a halt.
a non-propagating species without the formation of a new chain carrier.

NO2 is chain terminating because,

1) NO2 is a stable free radical present at high concentrations and

2) The odd number of electrons make it chain terminating meaning that one of its
valence electrons is unpaired and available to form a bond with the unpaired electron
in a radical to produce a stable species.

5. The average atmospheric pressure at sea level is 1.012x106 dynes/m 2 . The value of g
(acceleration of gravity) at sea level is 980 cm/sec 2. What is the mass in kg of the column of
air having a cross-sectional area of 1.00 cm2 at the earth’s surface and extending to the limits
of the atmosphere? (Recall that the dyne is a unit of force, and force = mass ´ acceleration of
gravity.)

Answer:

Earth’s surface area

A=4 π r 2

A=4 × 3.14 ׿

A=5.09× 1018 cm2

M atm per 1 cm2=ρ water ×V ×h

gr
M atm per 1 cm2=1 3
×1 cm3 × 76 cm
cm

M atm per 1 cm 2=76 g /cm2

M atm=M atm per 1 cm 2 × A

g
M atm=76 2
×5.09 ×1018 cm 2
cm

M atm=386.84 × 1018 g